As well as having a tailored functionality, modern plastics are also intended to do increased justice to environmental concerns. As well as by a general optimization of preparation processes, this can be achieved through the use of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, as building blocks for the synthesis of polymers. Accordingly, for example, a better environmental balance for the process can be obtained overall via the fixing of carbon dioxide. This path is being followed in the area of the production of polyethercarbonates, and has been a topic of intense research for more than 40 years (e.g., Inoue et al., Copolymerization of Carbon Dioxide and Alkylenoxide with Organometallic Compounds; Die Makromolekulare Chemie 130 (1969) 210-220). In one possible preparation variant, polyethercarbonate polyols are obtained by a catalytic reaction of epoxides and carbon dioxide in the presence of H-functional starter substances (“starters”). A general reaction equation for this is given in scheme (I):

A further product, in this case an unwanted by product, arising alongside the polythercarbonate is a cyclic carbonate (for example, for R=CH3, propylene carbonate).
As shown above, polyethercarbonate polyols have OH-functionalities, and this makes it possible in principle for relatively high molecular mass crosslinking products to be produced in further reactions, as by the addition of diisocyanates or polyisocyanates, for example. It would be desirable, however, to open further crosslinking pathways with different crosslinking reagents, which are able to provide different reaction kinetics and different product properties.
Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry 44-18 (2006) 5329-5336 describes terpolymers of propylene oxide, allyl glycidyl ether, and CO2 which can be crosslinked by UV radiation. For many applications, however, this specific mode of curing is too slow.
The addition of mercaptoethanol to polyethercarbonates comprising vinylcyclohexene oxide as comonomer (thiol-ene click Chemistry) is described in Macromolecules 44 (2011) 9882-9886, This reaction has been utilized to provide polyethercarbonates with lateral hydroxy-group functionalization. Not described, on the other hand, is the curing of polyethercarbonates thus modified.